The Mike Keith Show (Apr. 9, 2026)

Meet Smokey XII ahead of Saturday's Orange and White game.
VFL Velus Jones Jr. is the 41st Volunteer to win a Super Bowl.
Tyler Lundblade is on Rocky Top and ready for Rick Barnes.
Sophomore pitcher Landon Mack loves starting on Friday nights.
So much on this week's show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:00

From the banks of the Mississippi to the peaks of the smokies. This is the home field of champions.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

And sound nobody can catch it, but you like on a side of the game.

SPEAKER_07 0:26

More than 75 years of broadcast excellence. We are the Fall Network. We're Big Orange fans. Get ready for game day. Your guide, The Voice of the Valls, Mike Keith. Delivered by Uber Eats.

SPEAKER_09 0:48

Welcome to the Mike Keith Show delivered by Uber Eats. Download the Uber Eats app and use the code GOBIGORANGE to get $15 off all orders. Uber Eats, official on-demand delivery partner of the balls. Let's eat. Let's also welcome in Andy Brock and Sarah Detweiler, who are together. Yeah, they buried the hatchet. Every problem they've had where we've had to keep them separated is over with. Congratulations to both of you for being at the same table together. It was very hostile there for a while. It was really look at it now. It really was. So Dr. Brock and Sarah Detweiler hosted the Everything Orange podcast. What's the Everything Ords podcast tomorrow?

SPEAKER_17 1:30

We have diving head coach Jane Figuerito on her first season here on Rocky Top. Well, that's great. Yeah. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_09 1:37

Well, this segment of the Mike Keith Show is brought to you by KUB Fiber, the world's fastest internet, and Ball Nation's fastest way to connect. And so you guys are over there together. Correct.

SPEAKER_11 1:50

Which is a bit odd.

SPEAKER_17 1:52

Different.

SPEAKER_09 1:53

Different. Because we have a special guest.

SPEAKER_11 1:56

There's a reason.

SPEAKER_09 1:56

There's a reason. Maybe uh ball fans have heard, but there is a new Smokey. He'll be at the orange and white game Saturday, two o'clock Eastern. But guess where he is right now? He's our first guest on the Mike T show. Bring him in, Smokey. Here we go. 12. Oh man. That is trainer Garrett Reeves coming in here.

SPEAKER_08 2:23

Smokey.

SPEAKER_09 2:31

I'm gonna do this. Wow. So I can bring the microphone down here. Very well trained. What a sweetheart. Hey. His name is Neiland, but he is Smokey as well. All right.

SPEAKER_15 2:43

That is correct.

SPEAKER_09 2:44

So Garrett. All right, let's uh come here, Smokey. Let's talk about this for a second. You are Smokey's Handler Junior from Springfield, Tennessee. How'd you get to be Smokey's Handler?

SPEAKER_13 2:54

Yeah, so this position is exclusive to the Alpha Gamma Roe fraternity, which is agricultural fraternity here on Ag Camp or here uh on UT's campus.

SPEAKER_15 3:02

Um we've been the source of Smoky's handlers since 1977. Um and at the end of your sophomore year, you can apply to be one of the handlers. Uh so I went through the application process. It's a multi-round interview and tryout. Um, and I was just fortunate enough to be selected uh last March. So just completed my first year.

SPEAKER_09 3:20

And how many guys work with you as Smokey handlers? There's three of us.

SPEAKER_13 3:24

So uh this year, um, I guess this upcoming season, I'll be the senior handler. And then we just selected our two sophomores who are going to be the junior handlers next season.

SPEAKER_09 3:32

All right. How long have you been working with Smokey 12?

SPEAKER_15 3:35

We started working with well, the Vets uh have been working with him since they picked him up. Hey, there it is. Better get to stop with anybody. Yeah. So we the Vets have been working with him since uh they picked him up around uh December.

SPEAKER_13 3:52

Um, so they've been working with him for a while. The handlers, uh, we started working with him in February uh as soon as we got back to school.

SPEAKER_15 3:59

So I love it.

SPEAKER_09 4:01

I love it. You're gonna you're the star of the show. You want to make sure everybody knows. So, Vol fans, here is your new Smokey. And what a beautiful dog. He is gorgeous, isn't he? And we did have a chance, yes, we did have a chance to do a run-through with him yesterday. And he was not this fired up, but now he knows he's live.

SPEAKER_15 4:20

Yeah, that's right. He's uh he's already ready for for the spotlight, as you can see. So we're excited to see how we how he handles this weekend uh at the orange and white game. And we think that he's gonna he's gonna have a pretty successful tenure here. Barking is not problematic.

SPEAKER_18 4:36

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_09 4:36

I don't know, hey, sweetie. How about it? Let's get a treat. Yeah, let's get a treat, Smokey. Let's get a treat, Smokey. Oh, wow. We have to get down low. We have Smokey Cam going here, which is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_15 4:50

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. This is, I mean, he's just doing great. I was not expecting this.

SPEAKER_10 4:55

You're doing great, sweetie.

SPEAKER_15 4:56

You want to talk? He loves mine. You want to talk?

SPEAKER_09 4:59

You know, you can come up and do the game Saturday if you want to. Yeah. Look at this. Hey, Neil, right here, another tree. Good sitter. And he can he does down and everything too.

SPEAKER_11 5:16

Down.

SPEAKER_09 5:16

Oh, down, very good. And the amazing thing about Smokey 12 is rescue.

SPEAKER_15 5:23

He is. This is uh one of the I believe it's the first time that we've ever had a rescue dog uh serve in this role. So uh we're really excited. Um, and hopefully this can open the door for you know, potential opportunities. Uh you know, bring other dogs that are in unfortunate circumstances into uh, you know, a really cool role. Hey, Neeland, Neeland, right here.

SPEAKER_09 5:44

Neeland right here. Garrett Reeves doing a great job.

SPEAKER_14 5:48

Good job, buddy.

SPEAKER_09 5:49

The ag school, the vet school, everybody working hard on him. It's something I mean we know about the ag school and the vet school, how special it is at Tennessee. And a great moment for you guys to be able to have this in this way and be able to get this kind of attention.

SPEAKER_15 6:02

Yes, sir, absolutely. We're we're proud of the work that we do. Um UTI Institute of Agriculture, we've we've worked super hard to get us to the to the point that we are now. Um, Dr. Carver and uh Dr. Plumfer, who's the dean of the vet school.

SPEAKER_13 6:17

Um, they they all work super hard and have have worked with Nealan uh for various months now. So so like I said, we're we're really excited um and grateful for all the all the hard work it's taken.

SPEAKER_09 6:28

I think Smokey is saying it's time for Quinn for the win. I smokey, your appearance is the Quinn for the win today. There is no question.

SPEAKER_11 6:38

Good job, Smokey.

SPEAKER_09 6:39

What about Smokey? Look at that dog, you're beautiful. Brought to you by Quinn Appliance, your hope for the best selection of GE appliances. Visit their showroom at Alcoa or at quinappliance.com. GE appliances is built for America. Man, this is a treat. To get to meet this guy and have this opportunity absolutely fantastic. Come back over and get one more shot of it. Can you do that? He covers for me. Pick up the card. Garrett Reeves, Smoky12. Thanks for starting us off the right way. As we go to break, it's time for the Sonic Smash of the Week. Introducing the new Sonic refreshers. Yes. It is hydrating. You're right. A hydrating blend of green tea and real fruit. Try try it's sparkling or in three delicious flavors. Berry, citrus, mango, peach, and strawberry passion fruit. Sonic. Eat Sonic, live free. How about a Lady Ball smash to take us to break?

SPEAKER_25 7:57

Deep shot towards left field. No doubter. Emma Clark, two run home run, puts the Lady Balls on top. 7-0.

SPEAKER_07 8:13

The Mike Keith Show.

SPEAKER_22 8:15

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SPEAKER_27 8:46

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SPEAKER_06 9:46

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SPEAKER_12 10:16

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SPEAKER_07 11:05

Mike Keith continues the countdown to Valls Action.

SPEAKER_09 11:10

Welcome back to the Mike Keith Show. This segment of the program is presented by Pilot, the official travel partner of the University of Tennessee. And this is indeed Valus Jones in the building. Valus Jones, I was going to say world champion. Oh, yeah, fact. Valus Jones. Here's the stat. I don't know if you know this. You are the 41st Tennessee volunteer to win a Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_05 11:34

That's a blessing to be in that category for sure.

SPEAKER_09 11:38

Seattle beat, of course, the New England Patriots in this past February Super Bowl 60, 29 to 13. So I was looking up former Valls who've won Super Bowl. I want to hear some interesting facts.

SPEAKER_05 11:49

Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_09 11:50

Okay. The first former Vol to win a Super Bowl was Bill Anderson playing for the Green Bay Packers as they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl one.

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Oh, okay. The first.

SPEAKER_09 12:02

That goes back. Um, multi-time Super Bowl winners, former Vols, Craig Colquitt, the punter for Pittsburgh, 79-80. Mickey Marvin, an offensive lineman with the Oakland Raiders in 1981, and then the Los Angeles Raiders in 1984. Same team, different locale. Raleigh McKenzie, Washington, 1988, 1992, Peyton Manning, 2007 with Indianapolis, 2016 with Denver, Marcus Nash, wide receiver, Denver 1999, Baltimore 2001. Jack Hacksaw Reynolds, linebacker, one with San Francisco in 1982 and 1985. And then you'll know this one. Trey Smith.

SPEAKER_05 12:48

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 12:48

Yeah, Kansas City. My dog. 2023, 2024. Interesting note: the only vault to win three Super Bowls, Bill Bates with Dallas, 1993, 1994, and 1996. And it's good to see you back. Yeah, it's a blessing to be back. All right. So tell me about the experience of Super Bowl week, what it was like, the day of the game, seeing Bad Bunny.

SPEAKER_05 13:16

Did you even get to see Bad Bunny? No, no, you couldn't even hear Bad Bunny. I don't know. I'm not sure if the locker room was soundproof or anything. You can hear nothing outside. Yeah. So I mean, we left, I think we left early, like on a Tuesday or so. Plane ride was relaxed. Um it was a great group of guys on the team. Um, it was it was it was definitely fun. We had this thing called Shadow Boxing. It's basically like you point a direction and you have to guess like three directions in a row and you win. So did that the whole plane ride there. Um, got there, we landed, um, went straight to the hotel, and I think we had meetings, but the week was really chill. Um, you know, Mike did a good, I feel like he did a real great job of us just sticking to the game plan. We didn't make the game bigger than what it was, even though it was a Super Bowl. You know, we preached, it's the next game, um, next opponent. And so that's how we prepare for the week. It was a lot of media going on earlier in the week in the Civic Center. That was crazy. It was cool. They did like a lot of like weird, funny interviews and everything. Then we like locked in on the week, uh, practice, and practice was like smooth, it was fun. Um, it felt like we were back in Seattle. You know, we were really confident going into the week. And so like we just felt like the togetherness from like offense uh standpoint, defense, special teams that, you know, we felt like nobody can beat us, you know, if we just stick to the game plan. And then the guys were confident. Like it was um really fun throughout the week. You know, we already um, you know, knew the outcome with the confidence we played that, you know, if we just go out there and lay it all on the line and everybody just do their job, that we'll come out, you know, victorious. So mainly that, and it was it was amazing uh with the um confetti falling and I met the hawk. I can't remember his name. The hawk, I think he's like 20 years old. He was at the last two Super Bowls. They're actually like the bird that flies around. Okay. My mom and dad came on the field. I had uh family uh from back home that came out, and it was it was a crazy feeling. Um party after party.

SPEAKER_09 15:29

All right, so the party. I want to get into that because that's a cool thing. So generally, there's some big time entertainment at the party. And how long does the party go on? Did you even go to bed?

SPEAKER_05 15:42

So honestly, my family, we had like certain hotels. I think you could have like two family members with one bedroom at the main hotel with the family in it, and then it was another one right down the street from that one. So my mom stayed there, and my dad, my aunts, uncles, and cousins stayed at the other one. And man, I remember I came back and I just went to sleep, and they were outside waiting on me. Now, so security was real tight. They didn't just let anybody walk through. You had to have a list, yeah, and everything. And so after we did that, went to the after party, was walked through the hotel. I had Ludacris, T Pain, and Travis Scott, but it went on to like four or something in the morning. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my mom fell asleep on the couch and everything. Like, yeah, they can't hang.

SPEAKER_09 16:28

So, talking about life and decisions, you're playing for New Orleans to start the year. They let you go. And some guys would say at this point in your career, okay, I'm just gonna take a minute and I'm just gonna figure out what's next for me. Instead, you pretty quickly took the offer to join the practice squad in Seattle. Obviously, that turned out to be a great decision. Did you ever have any hesitation after leaving New Orleans as to what you were gonna do next?

SPEAKER_05 17:01

So, you know, the crazy thing about um having faith, you know, my religion, a big firm for um believer and everything happens for a reason. And so, you know, my agent called me, and the sea house is like, you come play here now. And so, you know, I feel like my dad and it was kind of worried because they were loaded team-wise. Yes. But with my abilities, um, Jane, you know, um, special team corner, that literally they knew what they were getting in me and the um type of player I am. Um and so came in, and it was funny because uh with New Orleans, we played them earlier in the season. They didn't kick me one ball on kickoff return. They kicked it the opposite way. And so they had um a lot of respect for me, especially in the kickoff return game, and just going and building it felt like felt like home, honestly. And the crazy thing about it, I found out Jay was um he was at Michigan when I came out of Sarah Long High School on my visit. So he'd been following me since like my senior year high school, so junior senior year. So that was cool. I had a lot of guys, um, strength and conditioning staff, Sam Darnold, Chennai, Nuosu, uh Peely, a couple guys that I was at USC with before I transferred to um Tennessee. So it felt like home, honestly. And a lot of guys we were in the same draft class that I knew about already. And so, like uh Kenneth Walker, um, Tariq um Woodland. And so I felt like home, honestly. And she means she came from New Orleans as well. Yes. So he was traded there. Yeah. And so I was like, well, I felt at home. I was comfortable. And I remember just sitting on the couch when my agent called me and I was like, Seattle's all the way out the way. Because you know, I felt I was comfortable. And Mobile, Alabama's like an hour and fifty away from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_18 18:43

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

So I was home, had my dogs with me, family was coming seeing me throughout the weeks. I felt like everything was going good. But I mean, how life works, you won't really understand what God has planned for you. And I feel like sometimes, you know, when you get like comfortable, it's not meant for you to be there for long, you know? And so uh it was definitely, I feel like it was calling. I prayed about it. And, you know, I just have all my faith in the Lord. And so I jumped on it and turned out really well for me. Won a Super Bowl. Yeah. Sign a future contract and everything. So I'm definitely looking forward um to this year, new OC. Um, we go back on the 20th, so I'm just ready to, you know, like have fun, you know, definitely have fun again.

SPEAKER_09 19:25

You're a running back now. You got moved in Chicago. And then when you went to Jacksonville and you went to Carolina, and then you went to New Orleans, you're a running back, you're still a running back. How hard was it when the coaches came to you in Chicago and said, this is where we want to try you at a new position?

SPEAKER_05 19:43

So at first, I mean, I was having like a really good camp. Um, was dialed in, having a really good camp. And you know, they brought Keenan Allen in. To me, one of the greats. Um, had DJ Moore at the time, drafted Rome first round. And so, you know, the ball, it wasn't getting around that much anyway. So at this point, you know, a lot of people probably don't know. I started at running back ever since I was young. No kid. I didn't switch over to receiver to my ninth grade year.

SPEAKER_09 20:14

Well, you're built like a running back.

SPEAKER_05 20:15

Yeah, exactly. So, and I had speed, so you know, my high school coach put that together. And then my senior year, I did running back and receiver. Yeah, so I was like a hybrid because you know, teens uh um cloud me, they'll press me, put a safety over top, screw the linebacker. I was difficult for me to get the ball. So I started getting handoffs out the back field in my senior year. And USC kind of used me like that. Then that's when the jet sweep thing came in. And so I was had experience at running back, so it was like second nature, honestly. So basically when I caught the ball, even at Tennessee, I just turned into a running back. That's how I was able to run with physicality and break so many tackles and everything.

SPEAKER_09 20:51

Well, your whole thing is you're not really afraid to do anything. You're you're you were a good special teams player in college, you were not afraid to do that. I remember covering you at the senior bowl. You're like, yeah, whatever, put me wherever, I don't care. Yeah, and you were a big-time prospect, big time high school prospect. You were a third-round draft pick. How'd have you, through the whole last 10 years, maintained enough humility to be willing to change positions and also be willing to play special teams like a wild man, like you did?

SPEAKER_05 21:25

I feel like my grandmother instilled in me a long time ago. Um, just be thankful, be grateful, um, you know, keep the Lord first. And I that's what really got me through a lot of things. Like I've been through depression.

SPEAKER_09 21:38

Pretty tough in Chicago, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 21:40

Oh, yeah, for sure. But I mean, probably on the outside looking in, but I mean, I was fine, but I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I didn't go through some things mentally, especially um my rookie year when I had a hamstring injury, missed like the first three games, played the fourth. Like I was down bad mentally. But I just know you know the Lord won't put you through um anything that he You can bear. And he was with me every step of the way, honestly. And I felt like when I did leave Chicago, that was a real growing point for me. You know, I felt, I'll say I felt relief. Like I can just like be me, you know, um, continue to have fun, give God all the glory. And honestly, I've just been enjoying the ride. I feel like a lot of people, you think it's about you, um, and it's really not. It's bigger than me. Um, as far, you know, the kids in the communities, the mobile and Sarah Land, Alabama, my little cousins and everything, looking up to me. And so that's when I realized it's like, it's not all about me, you know? And I've just been blessed to be in a situation that I can't, you know, share the word of God, uh, my testimony, you know, through um my Lord and Savior. And it's a beautiful thing. And so, like, one thing about me growing up, watching my grandmother work three jobs, like, we didn't know like quit or give up. You know what I'm saying? Like, like find a way. And so that's been my whole life, just find a way. Because I mean, I had to go through adversity in Park League. I was with a park team called Municipal Park Raiders, where I didn't play much at all. Then I that's when I moved to Sarland uh with my mom and uh my grandmother and my father, and took off middle school. I faced adversity. Um little rumor, um, Baylors was scared to get the ball at running back, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which is BS. And my eighth grade year switched to receiver, took over ninth grade year, played JB, you know, didn't get much playing time, worked my way up to start my sophomore year. So it's like every level that I've been through throughout my life, it's like the path was just tougher, but that's okay because I like tougher. I like when my back is up against the wall and the odds are not looking good because I feel like that's when I really like flourish and and turn it up a notch. And the cream always rises to the top. So, you know, keeping God first and just knowing everything that's happened is happening for a reason uh with my timing. Um, because I did six years in college, um, came here in 2020, COVID, and then 2021, the season they start off like too great. But, you know, when I got my opportunity, I took off with it. And so, you know, that's what I'm used to doing. I feel like that's my testimony. And a movie's not a good movie without no adversity, you know? Exactly. And so um definitely feel like my life is a movie and still got so many chapters, you know, in my book in this uh movie details. So I'm just blessed, you know.

SPEAKER_09 24:25

Well, I know this. I I know some people who are USC people who still love you. Obviously, the people at Tennessee love you. I know some people in the Chicago area who still think the world of you and who are glad that it worked out for you in this way to become the 41st vault to win a Super Bowl. And you're gonna put on one of those gigantic rings this summer, I would guess. There'll be a ceremony. Yeah. And you're gonna be that guy who grew up who they thought was scared to get the ball, I guess. And you're gonna have the biggest ring on your finger that says you are a world champion, and you will be a world champion for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

Oh, God, that's amazing. That's really a blessing. You think in the grand skipper things. The Hall of Famers that never won a Super Bowl. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah, it is. It's so hard and rare to get back in that position. And so, yeah, that's what I'm excited about this season because I truly feel like what I can contribute, you know, to the offensive side of the ball, being moved in different ways to touch the ball, especially going into preseason, just to show, you know, um, new coordinator what I can do, show Mike what I can do, and um how, you know, how much passion I really have for this and to be able to contribute. They get us back to another Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_09 25:37

We'll see. Well, you look like the best team last year for sure. Oh, most definitely. We will this year too. Valus Jones, uh I'm looking forward to the next few chapters. I think you got great things.

SPEAKER_05 25:47

No man.

SPEAKER_09 25:48

Love this guy, Valis Jones with us on the Mike Keith show. We're back with more of the show right after this.

SPEAKER_27 25:56

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SPEAKER_24 27:24

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SPEAKER_07 28:16

Mike Keith continues, delivered by Uber Eats.

SPEAKER_09 28:20

Welcome back to the Mike Keith Show, this segment of the program presented by Food City, the official supermarket and tailgate headquarters of the Valls. And only fitting that Food City would be sponsoring the segment for a basketball player who will be playing in the Food City Center next season. This is Tyler Lundblade. Welcome to Big Orange Country. Thank you. Appreciate it. Glad to be here. I am uh excited to have you here. My friend Chris Dorch wrote a piece for the website Hoops HQ about you back in October. And I think it opened the eyes of a lot of people who did not know your story. But Chris is so respected and knows everybody in basketball that a lot of people read it. And they know that you had a great really second half of the season for Belmont in 24-25. And then last season had another great year. And now you've chosen to transfer to Tennessee. So I I want to ask you first and foremost, Belmont was good to you. Casey Alexander, the coach, was good to you. Uh he left and went to Kansas State. Why Tennessee for your transfer?

SPEAKER_14 29:33

Yeah, I think the the biggest thing for me was I've got one year left. And you know, before last season, my goal was to test the draft water and see if I could get a two-way or something and go pro. But the the class is just so stacked and it just didn't make sense. Um, and so for me, you know, my last year I really wanted to be on a really great team and have a chance to go really deep in the tournament. And then individually, I wanted to go somewhere where I could get better and really, you know, prepare myself for the NBA next year. And you know, one of the things that we had talked a ton about was not necessarily raising my ceiling, but raising my floor. And I don't think there's a better defensive coach in the country than Coach Barnes. Um, and so really from all aspects, uh it was a pretty, pretty easy decision.

SPEAKER_09 30:16

Grapevine, Texas to Greensboro Day School in North Carolina. COVID kind of throws things off. Yeah. You end up at SMU as a walk-on, and that doesn't really work out. You red shirt, you go to TCU, you get on the court some, but it it doesn't really work out. New coach, and then you've got to figure out something. And then getting to Belmont was not even an automatic. How did it finally come down that Casey Alexander said, Yes, we want you to come on and play for us?

SPEAKER_14 30:48

Originally at SMU, I walked on for Tim Jankovich, then was put on scholarship there, and then he retired after my first year. Uh new coach came in, didn't have a scholarship with him. Uh so that led me to TCU, but Coach Jank was instrumental and he called Coach Dixon, told him about me, and they were said, Yeah, well, I we'll take him, we'll have him. Um, you know, have my two years there, some ups, some downs, uh a surgery, a red of a red shirt. And then same situation, I was on scholarship, had my scholarship pulled late. And going into my fourth year of school, if you know, didn't really think I was gonna see the court much. And I was like, I, you know, if I play, if I don't play basketball for four years, I'm kind of I feel like I'm killing my career. And so once again, leaned on Coach Jank uh and he started calling around um and called Casey. And the first conversation, he was like, you know, our roster's already full. And and be in mind, this is in June. So like they've already gone through their first month of summer practice. You're full. Yeah. And he's like, We're full, you know, we don't have a spot. And so kind of another two or three weeks go by, and I remember it was like three o'clock in the morning one night, and I texted my dad, I couldn't sleep. I texted my dad. I was like, I don't know if I should, you know, it's the first time I'm thinking that basketball is not gonna work out. And the next day, Jank called Casey again and said, just give me 30 minutes of your time, just listen. Got to Belmont July 15th, so I missed all of our summer workouts. Uh, was there for a couple optional weeks and then started full time with the team in in late August.

SPEAKER_09 32:12

And you weren't playing a lot early.

SPEAKER_14 32:14

No, no, my it's funny. The summer I did pretty well in August. In the fall, I was awful. I couldn't make a shot. I was like stressing, overreaching, just trying to be perfect. And you know, coach was like, just settle down, like just you'll find your place. I mean, our first game we put in on Division I team, so I played like 20 minutes, and then we played Furman and Lipscomb. And I think in both those games, I played like 12 and 11 minutes. Um then we had a road game at Air Force and I played well and closed of the game out, and then we came home against Oral Roberts, and I had just broke out, had 22 in the second half, and just kind of snowballed from there.

SPEAKER_09 32:49

The three-point shooting prowess. I mean, the things that Chris Storch had in the article about you making 68 in a row in a workout and had what like 174 out of 179. That's Steph Curry kind of stuff. How did you get yourself to a point where you can repeat the motion and everything that you do in a way that you can make shots like that, even with nobody guarding you? That's still just crazy.

SPEAKER_14 33:18

Yeah, I appreciate it. One, I think it's a God-given gift. I've always had a knack for shooting, but I think because of the way my career has played out, I was always chasing and chasing and chasing. And so I think that just drove the work ethic that I have now. Um, especially when I had my surgery at TCU. Now, what was the surgery? Uh sports hernia. So I had a partial tear in my adductor. It wasn't an invasive surgery, so I could walk the day of the surgery. Um, but I for the first couple weeks before I could jump, I mean, I shot 700, 800 free throws a day just to get something done. And I really attribute that kind of three-month period to where I mean it was just all mechanic work. I wasn't doing any conditioning or, you know, hard up and down the court stuff. So all my effort was just put in on my mechanics and refining and refining my shot. But I think just the compounding effect of eight plus years of making probably 300 to 500 shots a day just stacks and stacks over time. And it was a gift, but I'm also maniacal in my routine and my workouts. And uh, it's just definitely compounded over time. And I think that that instance in that video from that workout kind of just put it on display.

SPEAKER_09 34:28

Hearing your story about your journey, knowing that you're a you're a COVID kid, unfortunately. I have a son who's the same way going through that whole period which disrupted people of your age is life in a very different way. That you can do what you can do shooting the basketball as consistently as you do. Where does your mental makeup come from?

SPEAKER_14 34:48

A large portion of it is from my faith. My faith's the most important thing in my life, and trusting that the Lord was gonna orchestrate and you know, carry out this basketball plan, however, it may have worked out. That definitely took a lot off of my plate. You know, I think one of the biggest words that my family had talked about was the idea of surrender and like surrendering, you know, the outcome. I can control what I can put in, but I can't control the outcomes. And it took a lot off my plate. I used to stress so much about where I was gonna end up and recruiting in high school and not being recruited and you know, walking on twice and three times, letting it all go and and leaving it out of my hands is just taking a lot of pressure off my shoulders. And then I think the other portion of it is just how much I love the game. And you know, I was I'll die giving the game everything I can uh because I want to look back at my career however it shakes out, knowing that I gave it all that I could. And you know, if if it didn't pan out, you know, there there wasn't anything left that I could have done differently. And you're ready for Rick Barnes. Very ready. I mean, you know, I mean he's he's gonna push you.

SPEAKER_09 35:52

I'm sure he told you that.

SPEAKER_14 35:53

Yeah. No, the first that's one thing I really appreciated about the whole recruiting process with Tennessee was you know, they almost kind of scare they want to scare you out of it, you know, because they want to know if you want to be here for the right reasons. And you know, he told me he's like, where you want to go is hard. You want to be one of the best 500 players in the world on one of the 30 best teams in the world. This is going to be hard. This will be the hardest experience of your life. But I promise you, what's on the other side of it is so rewarding and will be worth it. And for me, with one year left, you know, that's that's all I want. I want to make a deep tournament run. I want to be coached hard. I want to improve. I want to be surrounded by a great group of guys, and I want to play in front of 20,000 people every night, screaming their heads off uh for the balls.

SPEAKER_09 36:33

So number seven gonna be the number?

SPEAKER_14 36:35

Number seven will be the number.

SPEAKER_09 36:36

Nice. This is Tyler Lundblade, the newest Tennessee basketball player. A great story coming from an outstanding program in Belmont. A lot of friends there know this guy well, and he is well thought of, thrilled to have him as a Tennessee volunteer. We got more of the show coming up right after this.

SPEAKER_19 36:53

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SPEAKER_09 37:23

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SPEAKER_27 37:54

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SPEAKER_21 38:24

Hey, this is Rick Barnes. The great John Wooden said, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. That's why I put such an emphasis on preparation. I get to the gym early before everyone else, so when they walk through the doors, I'm ready. Food City does the same thing. Long before the doors open, they're stocking produce, cutting certified Angus beef, and prepping ready-made meals. So when you walk into a Food City or the Food City Center, we're going to be prepared.

SPEAKER_09 40:15

His appearance is delivered by Uber Eats. You've got Duncan there.

SPEAKER_16 40:20

You can get that Uber Eats to you as well. I often get this sent to uh my study hall. Wake up in the morning, get a little half hour of uh extra sleep, and uh put the order in when I get there, it's it's there. So they deliver it to the study hall. Yes. That's fantastic. I'm walking in the front door and I got my order sitting right there.

SPEAKER_09 40:41

Oh that Uber Eats. They really come through big.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 40:44

This segment of the Mike Keith show is brought to you by CertiPro Painters of East Tennessee, great sponsors of the balls. By the way, they just did some painting for me and wallpaper. They do a beautiful job. How about that? That's awesome. Yeah, that's good. You probably don't need any painting or wallpapering right now, but at some point you may.

SPEAKER_16 41:03

I might need that, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 41:04

You could have without a doubt. All right, let's talk about last Friday night, you become the Friday night starter. Did you like that?

SPEAKER_16 41:12

I loved it. It's everything I've dreamed of. I think last year, having had the Friday night role, I kind of know what comes with that. Um, setting the tone for the weekend. I had a lot of fun out there. You know, the game might have not gone our way, but I was loving it.

SPEAKER_09 41:26

In terms of preparation landed, how much does it change being the Friday night starter to being the Saturday night starter or the Saturday afternoon starter, whatever it is for you?

SPEAKER_16 41:38

Yeah, it's a uh, you know, when you're Saturday and throw on Saturdays, it's a seven-day routine. Uh so to change things to a six-day routine can uh definitely you're trying to speed up or expedite the the recovery process, your body. So yeah, to move to a six-day cycle, it's just uh, you know, working with a strain coach, getting the lifts in, making sure your body's in a good spot. You're not overdoing or underdoing anything. But I think honestly, if I've felt anything, uh it was it's this week. Kind of the the after effect uh from being on a six-day routine, but back on seven now, get to throw Friday again. That's kind of the rewards you get. If you do good, you get to do it again.

SPEAKER_09 42:20

Well, you certainly did well. I mean, seven innings, 94 pitches. We were a little scared in the fourth inning.

SPEAKER_16 42:26

You had a little, was it in your side? That was actually my insulin sight. Um, I had it on my stomach, kind of right about here. And um, I think it was John Pearson that was up. I struck him out. And after I had made the pitch, kind of walked around, and um the needle was kind of coming in and go or going out back in, and that was bothering me a little bit. And then uh fell into a 3-0 count, was that work, and uh yeah, I wasn't wasn't feeling good having the needle go in and out, getting the flu shot over and over and over, is what it felt like. So yeah, coach and Woody, they uh they came out, kind of made a tight circle. I kind of had to undo my uniform. I just ripped the needle out and then uh was fortunate enough to get a uh a pop-up and get out of the inning, put a fresh one on. I'm okay. Yeah, my body's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_09 43:14

It was just a temporary well, but you've mentioned before when you were on here and in some other interviews, you're type one diabetic. Yes. And so do you have to say to the umpire at that point, listen, this is gonna take just a minute longer because this is what he's having to do. Your your situation's quite different.

SPEAKER_16 43:33

Yeah, the home plate umpire was extremely helpful. He came up to me a couple times and he's like, Hey man, like if you need a second here, it's on you. If you need a one-month pitch, just let me know. And then when I went out the next inning, he's like, Hey, is everything good? You need some extra time here. And I was like, No, man, like all set, appreciate you. But yeah, he was very helpful. And uh, like I said, the training staff and everything, they they helped me out and got right back out there.

SPEAKER_09 43:58

What Would you say your routine is between innings?

SPEAKER_16 44:03

Yeah, I uh I used to be pretty restless. Um, I I didn't like standing still. Um, I still try to move around a little bit. Um, but uh yeah, sometimes stiffening up is is kind of an issue. Um so I like to stay moving around, uh, but at the same time making sure that I'm conserving that energy and kind of just focus on the my next task, right? Um, I could be a good teammate, chair on my teammates, but focus on okay, this is who we got, one, two, three, next inning. Let's create a plan ahead of time. It's it'll be fresh.

SPEAKER_09 44:35

Is there anything you have to do with trainer Jeff Wood in regards to being a diabetic between innings?

SPEAKER_16 44:42

Yeah, with having uh I have my phone um in the corner of the dugout close enough where it's able to read uh my blood sugars, which is then also being sent to Woody and my parents. Um, so with having Woody in the dugout, obviously makes it very easy where he we can just kind of track his phone uh between innings and you know, if my blood sugar's high from adrenaline, a big out, or uh, you know, a big pressure situation. Um, maybe my blood sugar is going up and I need a dose. Um, maybe I had a tougher inning and uh I exerted myself, my blood sugar is going low. We got plenty of snacks and fast-acting sugar and stuff like that to uh tell me get feeling good to go back out again.

SPEAKER_09 45:24

I would think that having to have a routine like that, because you're a diabetic, makes you extra focused on everything going on around you, and in a strange way, it helps you as a pitcher.

SPEAKER_16 45:36

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, being a pitcher, um our routines are very black and white. They're they are simple and consistent and boring. And consistent and boring is what works. And to an extent, it's it's very similar with with being a diabetic, is you know, it's the same food, it's the same times of the day, you know, similar habits every day where it it's it's consistent and it's boring, but sometimes consistent and boring is what works, and you gotta stay with it.

SPEAKER_09 46:08

What were you doing well Friday night?

SPEAKER_16 46:10

I think it was definitely my command. I I started off the year with with good command, being an artist, and then uh, you know, you get juiced up a couple of times, rip some big numbers, triple digits in Georgia, and uh, you know, sometimes it turn into a meathead, and you're just like, hey, I'm gonna throw this as hard as I can. So being able to dial it back the last two weeks, you know, and and just be like, hey, um, I'm gonna, you know, stay within myself here and make these pitches and execute. And uh yeah, that's that's kind of the um you know, using the whole repertoire. That that's that's what works.

SPEAKER_09 46:44

Yeah, you don't have to throw a hundred and one when 95 or 96 will work.

SPEAKER_16 46:48

Shoot, we got 92, 93, and it's killing everyone out of the cam happens that work.

SPEAKER_09 46:53

Yeah, you know. Well, I mean, so much of that uh is about movement. Sometimes guys who throw hard get better as the game goes on because as their VLO goes down, suddenly the ball starts to move. Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 47:07

Do you find that with your pitching? I definitely had been that way, but I think that my velocity has also remained more consistent over you know bigger pitch counts. Um I think I grabbed like a 98 in the fifth of the sixth inning. Um, and I had been five to six like the whole the whole time. So to be able to kind of be conditioned um to to maintain you know a velocity makes me feel like okay, I'm in control here. I know exactly what's going to happen. Um, but yes, like there are guys, and I was one of those guys in recent, you know, past years where my velocity would go down slightly, but it would also kind of add some movement and had a little more time between point A and point B to you know dance on them.

SPEAKER_09 47:54

So because these hitters today have grown up with guys throwing this hard. So if you throw a fastball with no movement, they're gonna hit it.

SPEAKER_16 48:02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 48:03

No matter how fast you throw it, they're gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_16 48:06

Yeah, yeah. It's called a uh a dead zone fastball. Dead zone fastball. It has the same amount of vertical and horizontal movement, and it's it's like the most predicting uh fastball to hit. So yeah, to have you know a fastball with induced vertical vertical break, so it's like how much does it look like it's rising up or staying off the natural line of gravity, and then also how much horizontal. So, you know, different guys have different profiles. I have a sinker ball and a rise ball, I guess, uh with a four-seam and a two-seam. Um, so yeah, kind of messing around with different profiles and uh you know, give you an advantage on some guys.

SPEAKER_09 48:46

All right. So the pitching staff has had ups and downs recently. In terms of what Josh Reynolds is preaching to the entire pitching staff as a group, as you go to Mississippi State this weekend, what does pitcher one through pitcher eight have to do well or do better in order to have more success?

SPEAKER_16 49:07

Yeah, it's really being ready to go when your name is called. Um, I think that is one thing that you know we're focusing on. Well also wanting to be the guy in every situation. I think is one thing. Uh, but then again, when when it's your turn, uh go out there and and execute, feel confident. You know, if you're scared, let them know. You're not gonna throw it. You know what I mean? So want to be the guy, be ready when your name is called, and go out there and just execute. And then for me, it's having fun. I love having fun.

SPEAKER_09 49:38

So the atmosphere at state is fun. I I mean it is like nowhere else. Does that affect you? Do you see that? Do you feel that? Do you enjoy that? What what are you thinking about for tomorrow night?

SPEAKER_16 49:53

Yeah, personally, I love it. Um, I think for some guys it can get, you know, to be a lot, but um, I think we've done a great job with preparing our guys for these situations where I think they're gonna be able to handle it. For example, going to Georgia and you know, all the fans are barking and telling me, you know, bringing out family names or relative names and stuff like that, and just doing anything in their power to get me, you know, off off track. But little did the the Bulldog fans know that they were kind of charging me up extra, and that's when I was able to get my 100. There you go. Yeah. Personally, I love it. Um, but you know, it can and it's different for everyone.

SPEAKER_09 50:37

Well, it's a special place. And I mean, if you're a college baseball player, you want to have a chance to play at Dewey Noble because it's just I mean, it's what college baseball is all about. I remember back in the 90s, it was a place where we went, and Coach Del Monaco, who's going into the Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend, by the way. Congratulations, Dick. He said, I want our place to be like this. You know, I want our play, and it's funny, it took a while, but it is now. It it's got a personality and it's got an atmosphere. And in terms of seeing the SEC in this way, that's gotta be great.

SPEAKER_16 51:14

Yeah, no, it's uh it definitely makes me feel like a professional. There you go. You know what I mean? But yeah, no, it's uh having the ability to to house that many people, yeah. And have them, you know, that many people behind you in those situations. It's the best feeling as a pitcher, you know, it's a three-two count, two outs, bases are loaded, and everyone wants you to make that pitch. And that's to me, that's the best feeling. So I love that you know, we're able to have everyone here and it's fun. Good luck tomorrow night in Starkle.

SPEAKER_09 51:46

I appreciate you. Landon Mac's appearance brought to you by or delivered by Uber Eats, where he gets his Duncan coffee every morning before study hall. Gus's fried chicken is good via Uber Eats, too.

SPEAKER_16 51:59

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_09 51:59

So many good things as far as Uber Eats with what they can deliver. I was actually kind of stunned at all of the stuff you could get. Basically everything. Everything. Basically everything. Landon Mack with us on the Mike Keith show. We're back with more right after this. Catch up on today's show anytime.

SPEAKER_22 52:17

Presented by Uber Eats.com.

SPEAKER_07 52:22

We are the ball network. Mike Keith is here with your weekend scouting report, delivered by Uber Eats.

SPEAKER_09 53:01

Welcome back to the Mike Keats Code delivered by Uber Eats, which you've just heard about. I can also tell you that this segment of our program is brought to you by UT Medical, official healthcare provider of the balls and the lady balls. Stepping back in, Sarah Detweiler and Dr. Andy Brock, Mr. 865. How are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_17 53:22

Doing great.

SPEAKER_09 53:23

I'm gonna put you to work. Let's do it. I'm gonna put you to absolute work right now because we've got some work to do. Let's do the hot take feature presented by Firehouse Subs. Puts the pressure on those two young people. It's time for Firehouse Subs Hot Takes. Firehouse enjoy hot subs all across Big Orange Country. Ben, could you grab the sign there? Ben's gonna help us out here. This will be great. He does a new green job. By the way, if you didn't know this, the Mike Keith show is actually a class in the College of Communications. Is it 493? 494. It's an upper level class, and we've had students working on the program all semester. Ben does a great job. He's holding a sign now for the Firehouse Subs high takes. And um, who wants to go first with the hot take? Sarah, there's Ben. Ben, you want to decide? My hot take is Ben's doing a great job. He looked good on the football practice. He's a manager. Manager? Is that right?

SPEAKER_10 54:24

Video assistant.

SPEAKER_09 54:24

Video assistant. And man, he was working hard on the practice field this morning. They got after it in practice. A little fracas in there at one point. Did you jump out of the way, Ben? Uh a couple times. Got away.

SPEAKER_18 54:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 54:38

Got a little heated, a little scrappy. All right. So who's going first with the hot take?

SPEAKER_10 54:44

I think my hot take is I think my hot take is that wide receiver Rodarius Jackson is gonna go off yet again in another spring game for the ball.

SPEAKER_17 54:58

Okay. He's been watching the film, so Yeah, he would be the one to know.

SPEAKER_09 55:02

I can't really say, but I was watching practice today and he might have had the POD at the play of the day. I love Rodarius Jackson. I love, love, love his game. All right. So Sarah, go.

SPEAKER_17 55:18

Okay, so my hot take, um, really taking the hard left here, rowing. I think rowing. They won three SEC championships last year. I think they're gonna get two or three again this year.

SPEAKER_09 55:31

Now, okay, so they're obviously different events.

SPEAKER_17 55:35

Correct. They're different boats that race.

SPEAKER_09 55:37

Different boats.

SPEAKER_17 55:38

Correct, yeah. You have the two V8, the three V8, and a couple of fours.

SPEAKER_09 55:42

Two what?

SPEAKER_17 55:43

They're two V eight.

SPEAKER_09 55:45

Two V eight. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_17 55:46

And a three V8.

SPEAKER_09 55:48

Three V8.

SPEAKER_17 55:48

Basically, the V8 part is how many people are in the boat. Okay. So it's an eight-person boat, and they have multiple different eight people boats.

SPEAKER_09 55:56

Well, thanks for explaining that.

SPEAKER_17 55:57

I've never known that. Yeah, yeah, and a couple of fours. So uh info, get some championships.

SPEAKER_09 56:02

All right. Andy Brock, what is your hot take? Presented by Firehouse Subs.

SPEAKER_11 56:06

Okay, my hot take. Uh, basketball transfer portal window is open. Um, my hot take is that I think it should be cut down to a 48-hour window to decide when you jump in. Not for recruiting purposes, but you have to decide once it hits midnight that it's it you're going the portal, and after that 48 hours, you're done. You've missed your chance. That's my hot take.

SPEAKER_09 56:28

I think that would be deemed illegal by the courts. It could be, but I like that. I'm not saying I go against courts or law enforcement or anything. I'm just saying I like Andy's hot take. I better stop. Try the new chicken and cheddar rancher at Firehouse Subs. It's packed with grilled chicken breast, crispy bacon, melted cheddar, and creamy buttermilk ranch. Order in the Firehouse Subs app or get it delivered today only at Firehouse Subs. All right, time for a heavy lift. We swing to the heavy lift brought to our brought to you by our friends at Planet Fitness. By the way, great job, Ben.

SPEAKER_08 57:00

Yep, super job. Snaps for them.

SPEAKER_09 57:03

The Planet Fitness Black card, only $24.99 a month. We're all strong on this planet. Join today. See Home Club for details. All right. The heavy lift, Andy Brock for some sport or some person in ball athletics this coming weekend.

SPEAKER_11 57:20

Here we go. I'm gonna go to the golf course, Augusta National, the Masters. Jackson Harrington, heavy lift for him, playing in his first professional golf uh tournament, I guess you could say. Um, the biggest one for any golfer, and he is four over after day one shot of 76, but he was plus one on the back nine, so he finished really strong, tied for the highest, or I guess in golf lowest, best score, lowest score for an amateur golfer in the field. So really good job.

SPEAKER_09 57:50

It was a little shaky start. I mean, he teed off at 814 this morning. It's like I'm not doing anything well at the team. And you're 19 years old. Playing at Augusta National, big left-hander. Wish I had his golf swing. All right, Sarah.

SPEAKER_17 58:08

My heavy lift is that uh there's a lot of exciting transfers that are visiting Rocky Top for the women's basketball program over the next couple of days. We've got a lot in this weekend. So um, to get some more names on the roster, it's really exciting. So we'll be busy downstairs over the weekend with everything else going on on Rocky Top this weekend.

SPEAKER_09 58:26

But the Planet Fitness heavy lift you're saying is we gotta get them in the boat.

SPEAKER_17 58:29

We gotta get them. Let's sing them, let's bring them to Rocky Top.

SPEAKER_09 58:32

Get them in the boat. I think the men's and women's program are both uh doing some exciting things. Obviously, last hour on the Mike Keith show, Tyler Lundblade uh was here and and he's already signed with Tennessee and was on campus, obviously, and had a chance to visit with us. We were very excited to have him, and I think they're gonna add some some great stuff. Kibbs Corner is upcoming and Zach Stovall will join Kibbs Corner. He is the analytics guy. That's not his official name. I'll let Ross Kibbett tell you that. But really, really uh impressive young man from Huntland, Tennessee. I I do you guys know where Huntland is?

SPEAKER_11 59:13

No, no idea.

SPEAKER_09 59:14

Huntland is uh I think it's technically in Franklin County, uh, but it's in southern middle Tennessee. Huntland is where uh Johnny Majors is originally at.

unknown 59:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 59:24

So Majors family. It's a very it's very small. Zach Stovall is uh very famous from there. And speaking of looking for a place to get away when you visit Pigeon Forge, the whole family can play. Hundreds of attractions set in the great smoky mountains. Your crowd will go wild too. Join the fun and plan your trip at mypigeonforge.com. So Kiv's Corner is upcoming. Looking forward to that. And later on, Brent Hubbs and Chase and Jason Swain are here to talk about the orange and white game that's coming up on the Mike Keith show, delivered by our great friends at Uber Eats. Stay with us for another great hour of content. Mike Keith on the Vall Network.

SPEAKER_22 1:00:08

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SPEAKER_27 1:00:36

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SPEAKER_09 1:01:06

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SPEAKER_21 1:01:36

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SPEAKER_09 1:02:06

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SPEAKER_07 1:03:00

With Mike Keith. Time for the show within this show. It's Kip's Corner.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:13

Presented by Calhouns, A Taste of Tennessee. Nine area locations. And gosh, one just down here by the river is so good. The one out by me is the original location, is so good. One Turkey Creek is they're all so good. I love Calhouns. Ross Kivitt, assistant baseball coach, recruiting coordinator. That's right. Lover of Calhouns. Ross Kivitt is here. That's why it's Kiv's Corner, in case you didn't know. Just like it's the Mike Keith show starring Mike Keith. Just the obvious things, but we need to throw them out. Yeah. I'm really interested in this one. Not that I'm not interested in the other ones? Yeah. Yeah. But I'm really fascinated by this.

SPEAKER_15 1:03:52

We have today the director of baseball strategy for the University of Tennessee, Zach Stovall. He's a native of Huntland, Tennessee.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:59

That's where John T. Majors went to school. That's right.

SPEAKER_15 1:04:02

Part of this analytical transition for college, it's not just giving the numbers to the players, which he does and he does in an astounding fashion, but it's also roster management. Numerous labels, I hate to say labels, but I guess being able to uh stay within budgets and how important that is now, he's almost in de facto GM. So I think that's kind of exciting for people to know of how you also are part of roster management. With the portal opening here soon, we'll get you know all of the names flooding into the portal. I mean, it's it's over 10,000. Right. So you can't go through you can't go through all 10,000, right? But uh that's where you use numbers to kind of comb through where it's you know, you're looking for, you know, say we're looking for a certain type of pitcher, whether it's a breaking ball guy, VLO guy, whatever it may be, we can, you know, kind of sort through all the pitchers and say, all right, uh, show me the every pitcher who tops out at 100, right? And we can pull all that data and boom, there you go. There's the 70 pitchers in the portal that throw 100. I don't know if there's going to be 70 this year. Well, that would that would be that would be very nice. What is the average fastball velocity, let's say in the SEC? In the SEC right now, it's probably around 92. You know, which in in the big leagues right now it's 95, and the SEC's been very, very close to what the uh major league average has been. So when you're going into the bullpen with Coach Reynolds or you're breaking down film or numbers with pitchers after their outings, what are a few numbers that people might not know about that you are you are wired focus on? Outside of production, you're looking at you know, kind of a couple different metrics on basically just how the ball's moving. So you've got induced vertical break, horizontal break, this way, which is basically induced vertical is basically telling on a on a fastball, when a guy swings underneath the fastball, they have a lot of induced vertical break, ride, carry. What you've always called it for years when a guy has life to his ear. Uh there's now there's a number that says that, right? That says it's just a hand. Exactly. Elevator. Have you ever heard that? Which looks like it's on an elevator. Bore, ride, carry. All of those words basically, you know, you can boil down to a couple different numbers. You've got induced vertical break, horizontal break, vertical approach angle, which basically just says how steep or how flat the ball is coming into the zone. Let me give an example. Evan Blanco, he for a guy that doesn't throw overly hard by the naked eye, it's 90, 92. It is left-handed. Why does he get so many bad pop-up misses from other teams? He has a ton of induced vertical break, creating ride, creating uh, you know, life on his heater where guys are always underneath it. They have to really fight to get on top of it. And then when they finally do get on top of it, here comes a slider to change up that they that gets uh below the barrel. Wow. So that is why he he gets a ton of pop-ups and and swing and miss on his fastball. Zach, how'd you learn all this? The last three years from 21 to 23 before I came back to Tennessee. I was a video manager as a student, Ross Kibbett's number one assistant. Yeah, he worked a lot of our camps, worked a lot of the Chipotle runs and the Starbucks runs as well. Mandatory. I mean mandatory runs. You could have used Uber Eats. We would have, but we had Uber Eats. I was Uber Eats. I was Uber Eats. You know, I graduated in 2020, got a job with the Texas Rangers, uh, first year in Loway with the Downeast Woodducks in Kinston, North Carolina, and then two years in Round Rock, Texas in AAA in the Pacific Coast League. Through that time, you play 120 to 150 games in a year and you're getting data from every game. You just learn so much from seeing it every day, seeing how it's working, how each guy's using it, how each guy's different. All of the mentors I had from there really, really helped me in how to use it as both an analyst and as an evaluator.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:49

Did you find something in college here at Tennessee that allowed you to kind of further that in terms of what you majored in?

SPEAKER_15 1:07:57

Business analytics was my major.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:59

So Haslam guy.

SPEAKER_15 1:08:00

Haslam, yes, sir. One of our best. Joe Brown's. Yes. But with the business analytics program, uh, you know, the number one thing that they teach is being able to convey your message to whatever audience you're talking to, whether it's to a player, a coach, a uh another analyst who can speak the same technical language, um, or you know, in in professional baseball, you've got players that don't speak the same language at all. So you've got to figure out how to convey data between English, Spanish, yeah, at times Japanese, Korean. Honestly, what I'm doing right now, I liked it. I loved it. When I first came to college, uh, you know, I was a sports management major, switched to business analytics just to, I knew I wanted to work in baseball, wanted to be the, I mean, everyone calls it's it's a cliche, but the Jonah Hill from Moneyball, right? That was one of my questions was about money ball. You know, that was always something I wanted to do. And whether it was in professional baseball, college, um, scouting, whatever it may be, like using data to help teams win games. How do you manage the old school thinkers, whether it be on the coaching staff, on Twitter, or even in the clubhouse for guys that don't know numbers, to the new school, uh, all I care about is number. And how do you kind of buffer what's too much, what's not enough, and and be able to give the information that is then processed onto the field. You're telling them how many numbers do they want to hear. If you're an old school guy, you don't want to hear numbers. You want to hear the the verbiage, ride. This guy's life on his heater, this guy's breaker's really tight, or different things like that. Uh, for a newer school guy, you're gonna break down all the numbers. Yeah, your vertical approach angles this, and your horizontal movement is that, and this is what we need to do to get your movement into this range. For an older school guy, it might be yeah, to start a little harder. What are you doing during the games? Ooh, good one. We're looking at how the game is progressing, right? So when is it mainly is when you get deeper into the games. I mean, when you're in the first through fifth innings, whatever, everyone's just playing ball. You've got the starters in there, you're not really worried about matchups or anything like that. But when the game gets deeper, you start looking at relievers that are coming in. The other team's gonna be matching up with our relievers. Uh, you're basically just looking at matchups, right? Where um I've got my game sheet that has basically every number that I would like to know. Um, whenever Coach E lander or someone would ask me a question on, hey, is this a good matchup? So you're in the dugout. Yes. He stays next to Coach E. Yes, right next to Coach E lander. And a lot of the times is when we're bringing in a pitcher, and a lot of the times we've gone, you know, righty lefty, lefty, righty. When we go from, you know, Tegan to Appenzeller, Mac to Appenzeler, or you know, the main question is all right, we bring Arvin Son in in this spot, are they gonna pinch it this lefty? Yes. Okay, do we like the R versus this righty, or do we like Mac one more batter versus this this lefty? So it's mainly just a lot of questions on what do the numbers say.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:56

So Josh doesn't do the Lou Brown for major leagues where he says, Gimme one.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:02

No, and well, maybe he says, you know, I got a feeling.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:06

I got a feeling there there's more to it than that. No doubt.

SPEAKER_15 1:11:09

How about when you're prepping for the series or for midweekend? You're looking at when when the starter may come out, right? So, okay, Mac throwing thawing on Friday night, you get six innings out of him, and you're at this spot in the lineup. Do we want to flip the ball over to our next guy or do we want to let him keep going? You're basically looking at all right, when situations get hairy, where do guys need to come out? Where do guys need to come in? Um, it's really just as simple as that. What what's the best matchup for these guys?

SPEAKER_09 1:11:38

So you don't have to be emotional or scared to give sort of an a suggestion to Josh E. Lander because you're all based on numbers.

SPEAKER_15 1:11:48

Correct. Numbers have no feelings, so the objective decision is usually swayed by a number. Is that wrong? No, correct. I mean, if it's 50-50, we're gonna go with the number at the end of the day. What about when you're building a roster? How how can you in such an emotional business between scouts that go out and evaluate and numbers that you just said don't have emotion? How do you stay centered and keep, let's say, tempers uh mended or neutral when you're making discussions on rosters? Yeah. I mean, you're looking at what you need, right, from a pitching perspective. Do you have, you know, five or six guys you think could start for you on a weekend? Do you have five or six different looks coming out of the pen? You know, I mean, our our team this year, I would say, is one of the most varied bullpins we've had from, I mean, we have a guy throwing from his ankles and then, you know, we've got Bo Rudy throwing out of his shoulder, we've got lefties, we've got different righty looks. You want to make sure that your bullpen doesn't all look the same because when you get to Sunday, you get deep into the game, the other team's going, Hey, I've seen this guy four times already.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:49

Right.

SPEAKER_15 1:12:50

But if you got a guy who's looks completely different than the guys you've been throwing, it's a different look for the guy, and it might take a while for the other lineup to get adjusted. Interesting. What what about when you guys are putting together the plan for the summer and guys are starting to get in and get out? How do you stay objective with that? The reason I ask is obviously basketball is going through that now with their portal, and they obviously have a plan. You've spoken to Scotty before. Shout out Scotty. Shout out Scotty. That guy's really smart. So is what's your ACT? 34. Bummer. Gonna be perfect. How do you have um the ability to stay neutral with what maybe it's the demand versus what the product is? Right. No, it it can be a little hard because you're around these guys all the time, right? And when you're looking at building a roster, you know, looking at what your needs are through the portal, I try to kind of stay a little further back from the action where um, you know, I'm I I don't want to be the only one saying we need this, this, this, and this, right? It needs to be a group discussion. So when we're all on the same page about what the the team needs, then it's okay, let's go look at the numbers, let's go find a couple of things that fit the parameters that we're looking for and building uh a successful team for 2026 and and beyond.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:02

Our baseball team this year has had a lot of weird things happen. Okay, you're asking. Well, I but I mean I just you're clearly a baseball guy. You certainly are a baseball lifer. I've I've been following baseball for over 50 years. I live and die with baseball. I love baseball. My thing is, I mean, there have been so many unusual things happen this year. Is it just me as a baseball guy saying all of this happening has been incredibly strange? Or is there a percentage that would say the numbers, which don't lie? They don't the numbers would say I'm absolutely right that we have had a number of unusual happenings so far in the 2026 season.

SPEAKER_15 1:14:44

You look at a couple of different things that could go your way, whether it's you know, like, you know, uh the way that the games have ended for us, uh everything's flipping on a dime, things like that. Um, there have been so many strange things happening from a number standpoint, whether it's uh you know, balls not getting out of the yard, uh balls finding holes for the other team. Um it's definitely been the strangest year that I've been a part of. On the other hand, no excuses. We've got to go out, we've got to finish, we've got to go out and produce and and and finish games.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:14

But as a baseball guy with no numbers involved, I'm saying that has to turn around. Right. Yes. I mean, it just can't.

SPEAKER_15 1:15:21

The baseball gods, yes, they be they come back and be nice to us.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:25

How much does it help you in your job that you are also a baseball guy? I mean, it helps a ton. Because not every guy who does your job is a baseball guy. Some some are just mathematicians more. Like in Moneyball. Yeah. Jonah Hill is not a baseball guy. Well, and his character was based on Paul Di Podesta, who was the Dodgers, and then he went to work for the Browns and now the Rockies. Now the Rockies.

SPEAKER_15 1:15:48

I didn't have the same playing experience that Coach Kivitt, all of our current players have the players that I had in professional baseball. So I had to learn from a lot of great mentors. Coach Kivitt, Coach E Laner, Coach Vitello from the years past, uh, and then all my mentors with the Rangers of okay, I'm the numbers guy. How do I get players and coaches to trust me?

SPEAKER_09 1:16:09

Oh.

SPEAKER_15 1:16:10

And it's basically it all it always comes back to the same thing. And I don't remember exactly who said this first, and I wish I did, but I've heard it a million times. People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. From a numbers guy who didn't play the game, players and coaches have to know that you care about them before you go to them and say, Hey, I think we should do X, Y, and Z. The other thing I to compliment Stovol, he doesn't come in and pretend like he knows more. He's not because old school guys like even me, who I'm I went to a state school in Kansas, I'm not that smart, and I listen to him talk, I'm going, come down to Earth and give me the that in layman's terms. And he's so good at it. If we were to send him out to go recruiting right now, go evaluate a player, he knows what he's looking at. And what is so awesome about having him as a resource here at Tennessee is I know what I see with my eyes, he verifies it with the numbers. So in the summers, when he might not be on the road for the 50, 60 days, he's grinding every day with us because it'll be a midnight call. Hey, I'm driving from Birmingham to Atlanta. This is what I saw. I just sent you the track, man. Tell me if I'm right. And it's like 45 minutes in the car at midnight on a Tuesday, and it's an unbelievable resource.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:29

See, this is what I think I would have tried to do had this been in existence. Yeah, what's that? When I was nope, nobody believed in. I mean, it was literally Lou Brown saying, I have a feeling. Yeah. I mean, that was that was really how it worked. But there were always guys on the bench who would say, Hey, I remember the last two guys that Smith faced Jones and he got him out with a slider. So let's throw him all sliders. So it's always been there, but when the whole money ball thing got started with Billy Bean and D. Podesta and the guys who really embraced it, you know, I saw how it changed in my time in the NFL. Bill Belichick read a guy's paper. No way. It's 100% true. A guy wrote a paper for his master's or for something about why you should go in these situations. And based on that paper and the analytics in the paper, Bill Belichick started going for it more on force down, and it started a lot of the NFL trend. There were already some college trends and high school trends from Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas who were already doing that. That's so crazy. But yeah, it was all based on analytics. What's your favorite order at Calhoun's?

SPEAKER_15 1:18:42

Definitely the bacon wrapped burn-ins.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:45

Nice.

SPEAKER_15 1:18:48

You don't need a number sheet for that, do you? No, sir. Every time I always, you know, I've got a ton of family coming from out of town for these games. Go to Calhoun's first thing. Give me the bacon wrap burnouts. Yeah. Shout out Calhoun.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:00

Calhoun Calhoun. Thank you for sponsoring the corner. Zach Stoball, thanks for being with us. Well done. Thank you. We got more of the show right after this.

SPEAKER_20 1:19:08

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SPEAKER_21 1:19:39

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SPEAKER_27 1:20:11

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SPEAKER_01 1:21:49

I mean I'm working at the top and then running. Everything else was plain over. How y'all boy doing, man?

SPEAKER_09 1:22:01

Oh we This segment of the Mike Keith Joe brought you by Clayton Homes, Oakwood Homes, and Love Homes of Tennessee, helping families across the state find their dream homes. From the Ball Radio Network, Jason Swain, Brett Hubs, Spring Game, Orange and White weekend, Orange and White Day, whatever you want to call it. It happens at Neeland Stadium, preserved by a pilot, coming up this Saturday at 2 o'clock Eastern time. It's a wrap to spring practice 2026. Brent Hubbs, I'll start with you, and then Jason, you can follow up. What was the most important thing that Tennessee needed to get done this spring?

SPEAKER_03 1:22:41

I think start to create their defensive identity and what they wanted to be on defense and how quick could you get there? How much could you learn? How much could you install? And I think that there's a feeling that they are ahead of schedule and creating that identity and creating that brand of football that Jim Knowles wants to play. Everybody's going to talk about the quarterbacks, Jason, but the reality is that was never going to get resolved this spring. So for me, in terms of what are you going to accomplish in 13 practices, I jump to the defensive side of the ball to kind of create swagger or create confidence, brand, identity, whatever adjective you want to use there.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:16

For me, it's the strength of condition program with Derek Owens. That's um laying the foundation of what's acceptable inside of this program, the toughness, uh physical toughness, the mental toughness, um, setting that standard, um, that's the most important thing. Because physically you get you have to be able to move a lot of scrimmage and the fall on offense and defense. And so uh we're seeing some positive effects from him already. And so I think he, along with the defense and the new players, are the most important pieces of the spring.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:44

We on the outside hear buy-in from what people say. But as a former player, what are you seeing that leads you to believe that outside of words, there is that kind of deep buy-in that it seems that there is?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:58

The best way to know that is when you see the really, really good players being held to the same standard as everyone else. That's when you know that, hey, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, in this case, with the new age of college football, how much money you're making, there's a standard, there is a bar, and everyone has to meet it. And if you don't, then you know there's issues. And so uh that's the one thing I'm excited about with this uh Derek Owen staff and the defense staff and kind of moving into this direction.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:28

It's always interesting to see what the buy-in is for guys that maybe you haven't seen before or heard before. You know, it's the clean slate mentality, and I'm curious for you because you had played and David Cutcliffe comes in, and it's some of the same things, but it's a whole different way of doing business. So, as a veteran, how did you buy in and how important do you think the older player buy-in is for a guy who's looking for a fresh start, like some of those defensive backs who didn't play a lot last year?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:00

Well, I mean, Jim Knowles won a national championship. You know, Derek Owens won a national championship. And last two years, you've added those guys who have won championships. And so if I'm a player, especially on defense, and you have a coordinator that knows what it takes to not only put guys in the league, because that's that's really my first goal is to play at the next level. I want to win. Jim Knowles can get you there. He knows what it looks like. And so you listen to him, um, you take his coaching, this staff put together by Knowles. They've coached uh players that play at the next level and competed at a high level as well, too. So it's the instant credibility that stands out for me.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:38

The thing that jumps out about Knowles, and he said this when we had a chance to talk to him in January, that he was excited to bring coaches with him who knew him and to bring players with him who had played for him. Feels like watching them this spring, that has worked out.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:54

Yeah, and and you know, I had a chance to visit with Anthony Poindexter earlier this week and was talking with him, and he's just like, yeah, he goes a year ago, I'm learning it and teaching it. You know, I'm going to class and then I'm teaching class. Now I'm just teaching class. And so he's not trying to get his footing in a defense like he was a year ago learning Jim Knowles. He's a year into it, he understands it better. Derrick Jones, who hasn't been with Jim Knowles for a while, was with him early on at Duke. So they have a foundation and an understanding of things. So I think that has allowed them to go faster. And I think Jim Knowles said this in your interview too. I mean, he's learned through the years in his installs at new places. There's a lot of different ways to skin that cat, so to speak. And I think he's tweaked how it's gone about learning. And I think as a result of that, they all feel like they're ahead of schedule from where maybe they thought they would be when spring started.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:47

And the good news for Tennessee's offense is they've really been challenged by that defense this spring.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:52

Jason, I always joke back, you know, back when he played, it was always there's the rules, right? Okay, we're not going to do this, you're not going to do that, until about the third play, and then it becomes football. There haven't been any rules this spring. And I think that's exactly what Joey Hosley is looking for for those young quarterbacks. Don't give me a lot of parameters. Don't limit what guys can do and what guys can't do. Let's just play football. And I think Jim Knowles did that from the first scrimmage on, Jason.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:17

Well, it's good for Joey Hosley. Not only is it good for the young quarterbacks and good for the offense, but I think it's good for Hosley and for Hypel to be able to go up against Knowles and his defense. We saw what he did when he was at Ohio State and Tennessee played Ohio State, gave Tennessee some trouble. So this helps Hosley evolve as offense coordinator and have more answers to the test. Then it helps these quarterbacks, these young quarterbacks, be able to process information quickly when Knowles decides he wants to send the blitz, or if he decides he wants to do something different with the front, uh, it prepares these quarterbacks as well.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:50

Where are the quarterbacks right now?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:52

They're battling, that's for sure. They look like freshmen. I think there are flashes that you see from either guy that makes you think, okay, this guy could play. In this conference, and can play at a high level. It's going to be really important for everybody around them to play well, too. But I've been, I mean, I've been impressed with Faison Brandon. Um, his ability to get outside the pocket, make some things happen with his legs. Uh, he's letting it fly. Of course, he's making his mistakes. Uh, in scrimmage number two, I saw him throw a touchdown pass up the seam. And um, you you can't miss throwing across the middle. And I thought he did a really good job. And to me, it feels like he's a little bit ahead of schedule.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:28

Is there a position surprise right now? It's a twofold. Is it a surprise or a disappointment a little bit? I think the defensive front has been able to win in the line of scrimmage and pass protection a good bit, particularly in the interior.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:40

Being able to rush the pass.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:42

Being able to rush the passer. So the question becomes is are you that good on the defensive front? Or are you struggling in the interior of your offensive line a little bit in what you're doing? And and I think when you're a head coach, you're always battling that, right? It's okay if my defense does well, what's what's wrong with the offense type thing? But but I think across the board with that defensive front, they have moved the line of scrimmage some in the passing game in terms of defending pass, being able to get after the quarterback. And I think that's probably been a group that surprises me. And the headliner to that in in that group for me right now is Xavier Gillam and what he's been able to do to in terms of being able to get to the quarterback.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:16

Is he the newcomer that's grabbed you the most?

SPEAKER_03 1:29:18

He is. I just think when you look at where impacts are going to be made on defense, you you know you're gonna need some help up front because you got some young guys in that defensive line. I think his ability to show that he's a three-down player, he's held his own Jason in the run game, and he's affected the quarterback. I I think he's been the biggest surprise to me so far.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:37

That's where it starts, guys, in this league. Um if you're gonna win at a high level, it starts up front and starts with guys who are closest to the football. Uh defensively, it starts with the defense tackle. Offensively, it starts with your centers and your guards. And so uh what I've seen from the scrimmage is Xavier Gillian has been a problem for the offensive line. And that's a that could be a good thing to help these guys and challenge these guys for sure. Um, but anytime it's a spring ball or fall camp and you have one side win, that's good, but then it makes you question the other side and how good they are. You want that yin and yang, you want that balance.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:10

Receiver who is trying to make a way to get playing time with Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, or receivers.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:22

I mean, physically, he's ready, he can compete. Uh, him and Travis Smith, I think consistency catching the football needs to be really the focus because that's what's gonna separate these guys. I mean, you have a few guys battling for one spot, and you have to understand kind of the climate that you're in in that room. You got a five-star in there in TK Keys that's looking for an opportunity uh to play early too, and the coach is gonna give him that opportunity. So you can't let the window and the door be open by putting the ball on the ground. So you've got to catch everything and make plays after the catch.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:53

And what's really interesting about offense, and maybe the biggest question, Mark, is what's the tight end rotation? Can you get enough depth there that you feel comfortable playing two or three? Who are those guys outside of Ethan Dayton?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:06

Well, it starts with Design Brain. And I think the question with Brahm is can Brain be an every down tight end, or is he a third down pass catching tight end? Is he where Ethan Davis was a couple of years ago? Or has he, through the strength and conditioning program where he's gotten stronger and more physical, has he completely got into being an inline blocker and doing the things that he needs to do to block? If not, they could always go with an extra offensive guard or tackle out there and they could schematically kind of work around it into two tight end sets. Carson General could be a factor there. You know, we'll have to see. But I think to me, the question is how far does Brain come between now and August from a physicality standpoint? Everybody knows he can catch the football. You can flex him out and doing everything. If he can get the inside part of it and the physical part of it, I think it gives them a pretty nice one-two punch at tight end if they can stay healthy.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:56

Is there a main concern that they come out of spring with no matter what happens on Saturday?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:01

Absolutely. You want you want a concern too, right? Okay. You want something to be able to focus on and work on during during the summer. It's not going to be perfect, especially when you have so many people watching. So there's going to be a narrative created from the spring. Uh, it could be good or bad, but there's nothing wrong with having a concern and working on that during the summer. Because I think every team in college football is going to have a concern. You're not going to win the championship in April. So it's okay to have a concern. You just don't want any injuries. That's the most important thing. You want everybody to come out unscathed and be able to be healthy going into the summer and fall.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:34

Who takes control of this team at the quarterback spot?

SPEAKER_09 1:32:37

And how fast?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:38

And how quickly do they do that? Because here's the thing: here's the old receiver guy right here. He wants to know who he's going to catch balls from. The quicker you know who your guy is, it's not going to be decided in June, but who's taking the reins and saying, I'm running throwing sessions, I'm setting things up, I'm available to the receivers for film study, for all those things. That's when you start to make your team in the summertime for me. Which quarterback becomes that guy this summer? Who takes that leadership rank? Because remember, George McIntyre took a group of receivers to South Florida over January to sort of start that process before Faison got here. Now Faison's here. How does that mesh up?

SPEAKER_09 1:33:17

George had the advantage being that he was a returner, but he had no virtual experience in that job. So he was almost the guy, you know, trying to keep the lead in the golf tournament. Whereas Faison's just been able to cut it loose and just play. Well, now once we get to July and August and it starts to become real that one or the other could win the job, that it's that even, do they have a chance to look the same in August as they have in April? And I think that's a that's something to keep an eye on.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:48

These receivers, they run a lot, right? And if you are a receiver looking to have throwing sessions with your quarterback, you want to have a throwing session with the quarterback you think is going to be the starter.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:58

And you have an idea. I think each individual receiver probably has their own idea of who's going to be the starter. So you probably want to throw more with that guy than anybody else. And so that's going to be interesting to kind of see how that plays out.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:12

Football teams are made in the summertime. No offense to 15 days of spring practice, but what you do after spring practice to August is critical for the development of your team. How does this team go about that process at quarterback and at other positions all the way through?

SPEAKER_09 1:34:25

Well, we will see the final chapter of spring at Nealand Stadium preserved by pilot coming up this Saturday, two o'clock. We'll be on the Vol Network at 2 with a special. Jason Swain will be there. Brent Hubbs will be there. We think Ramon Foster will be a part of it. We think.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:40

If we can get him to work.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:42

And Larry Stone will also be part of it. So we look forward to bringing you two hours of University of Tennessee football talk on your Vol Network this Saturday. More of the show coming up right after this.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:53

Your weekend scouting report with Mike Keith.

SPEAKER_22 1:34:57

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SPEAKER_07 1:37:52

The Mike Keith show continues.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:54

This segment of the program is brought to you by First Horizon, official Bank of the Falls. Dawson Sutton's here. And if you don't know who he is, what are you doing? You should know. He is a fantastic young man who's got a lot of things going in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. You got so much stuff, I couldn't fit it on one card. I gotta go through. So he drives the number 26 for Rackley War Racing. And in case you need to know what that is, that's Rackley Roofing, the official roofer of the balls, and Willie Allen Racing. You're a busy man getting ready to go to Bristol tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_13 1:38:31

Oh yeah, it's crazy. Just the schedule's been unreal this year. You know, the NASCAR side of things, there's there's never, you know, no stops. And just sucky enough to, you know, be able to travel around and go to some of these cool racetracks like Bristol tomorrow night. And um, you know, it's definitely one of my favorite tracks to to go there and just you know represent that that half mile just high banks. It's it's crazy how fast it is. And to be, you know, so close to home, it's just it's awesome, man.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:56

Yeah, this is a homecoming for you because this young man is from Lebanon, Tennessee. Big ball fan.

SPEAKER_13 1:39:01

Oh, yeah. Love the big horns. Dude, love him, man. Grew up watching football, you know. I really didn't have a whole lot of interest in racing at first, but um, you know, just watching football every week and you know, going to the games. My my first ever game was going to the Battle of Bristol. So going there is, dude, it was unreal. And you know, to go to a racetrack, my first ever game, it was just so cool. And to just, you know, represent that and look at all the fans there is crazy.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:25

Dawson Sutton is not only in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, he still races supermodel and pro late model as well. So you're racing multiple times a week some weeks.

SPEAKER_13 1:39:40

Oh, yeah, it's it's like I said, there's just no stops, you know. There's no really off-season racing. Um, there's about a month off between um January and December, but um, that's really it. You know, even in the cold, we always race and racing the grassroots races like late models, super late models, and pro late models. We you know, our biggest race of the season is in December at the Snowball Derby, so down in uh Pensacola, Florida. So there's really no you know, breaks or stops in the season throughout the NASCAR and you know the grassroots late models. And um, it's just awesome to be able to, you know, have that big of a schedule and to race that many times a year. I think this year, I think my schedule rounds up to about 65 races. Last year, I think we ran about 80.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:22

So you drove last Friday night in Rockingham, and then you drove to Knoxville to see Tennessee beat LSU in baseball, right?

SPEAKER_13 1:40:31

Oh, yeah. That was you know a great weekend to just you know have two wins. It was a great weekend at Rockingham. Uh we had a really, really fast truck all all day long and uh unfortunately had a bad, bad time pit stop and got it trapped a lap down, but still had a decent finish. I think we finished 14th in the race or 15th. Um, but and then you know, just coming straight here to watch that game and watch the Vols win on my first ever baseball game. You had never been to Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Never, man. It was it was so cool just to see the atmosphere and that many fans. Uh yeah, it was just an awesome environment and you know, a great facility.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:04

So you're gonna run tomorrow night at Bristol in the truck series, and then you're headed right to Nashville for what is a homecoming race. I guess the biggest race you've won so far in your career was in Nashville last year, right?

SPEAKER_13 1:41:17

Yep, that was the uh All-American 400. That's the uh that's the big one everybody wants to win there. And you know, thankfully we got the guitar. Um, that was one that I always grew up wanting to win. And uh, like you said, this weekend's gonna be a really big weekend for me. Running, you know, Bristol tomorrow night and running the fairgrounds on Saturday and the cars tour. Um, you know, bringing that, you know, that Rackley Roofing uh 62 car or the Mobly Speed 62 car back at the fairgrounds will be a really big deal for me. Um in just that environment, I think they're you know, they're reviving Nashville and the cars tour is a part of that. So it'll be really cool to see that many fans there Saturday night along with Bristol. And you know, it's just it's gonna be a great weekend.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:54

Okay, racing question. I've I've always wanted to ask a driver this how different is it in terms of what you have to do driving the trucks to the cars?

SPEAKER_13 1:42:04

Man, it's it's so crazy. Just you know, the just the driving styles of every vehicle. Um, it's a lot different than driving on the interstate. I say, you know, the truck is closer to that because they move around. And you know, when you're in a little car and you get next to a semi-truck, you move around a lot. So you just imagine you know doing that 200 miles per hour when you have 30 other trucks beside you. So it's it's it's unreal, um, just the driving styles of you know a truck where they move around a lot more, and uh especially it depends what track you're at, especially Daytona and Talladega. It's you move around a ton and it's really easy to get the air taken off of you when they get up next to you and they side draft you. So it's it's really just you know, it's crazy. Just the driving styles compared to the late mall where you know a lot more stuck and just a lot more throttle time. So it's really fast, but um, it's it's crazy, man, how much different they are.

SPEAKER_09 1:42:53

Here's the other exciting thing about tomorrow night. Rackley War has combined with the University of Tennessee Athletic Department and Learfield, and number 26, Dawson Sutton's truck will be Tennessee, will be outfitted in um the snow globe white. Is that what you call it? Uh Stormtrooper white and and all the big orange. How much did you know about the design of the truck?

SPEAKER_13 1:43:20

Yeah, man. I I really didn't know much until you know just a few days ago. Been a really cool deal, you know, run that black camo every week. And you know, we thought of the white camo. So uh it's just a super, super cool truck. Um, and you know, it's definitely one of a kind. Last year we ran the scheme and didn't have any white camo, but um, I thought it still looked really good, and we just wanted to take one step up, and I feel like that's what we did. I think it's looks really, really sharp. Um, it's definitely one of a kind, like I said, and I think it'll be really fast tomorrow night. I'm really, really looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:49

And combining your passions, your passion as a University of Tennessee fan, a Lebanon native, and a passion for you as a as a young driver in all of this. It's gotta be so far like a dream come true, I would think.

SPEAKER_13 1:44:03

Man, it is. It's it's just so cool. You know, I've been racing for four and a half years now, and just to you know, climb through the ranks and from the bottom step up, it's been it's flew by. It's felt like just a year almost, but it's super cool to just you know have the opportunity to come out here and race at these tracks I dreamed at racing at when I was little. And you know, I grew up watching, you know, the cars movie and all these just little racing shows. But you know, that's what I grew up about doing. And you know, at first I just you know I had other sports in mind. I watched football and baseball, and you know, I really loved those. And then I found found a passion for racing, you know, just a few years ago. And like I said, ever since I got in the car for the first time, it's every step has just flown by. And uh now, you know, racing at Bristol tomorrow night. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:46

Again, Dawson Sutton, Rackley War Car, and again, the University of Tennessee Athletic Department and also Learfield joining with him to produce a Tennessee car. You'll see number 26 tomorrow night, 7:30 on FS1. You can watch the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series from Bristol. Dawson Sutton, what a pleasure to meet you. Can't wait to see you advance in all of this. And hey, go win tomorrow. Yes, sir. Thank you. Win in that big orange, right? Oh, yeah. As we leave, maybe you'll come back for this next Thursday because we got a big event happening. Vall fans like Dawson Sutton can join us next Thursday, one week from today, at the Vall Shop Student Union on the UT campus to meet the balls. Blaine Brown of Tennessee Baseball and Sage Marjetko of Tennessee Softball will be at the University of Tennessee Student Union location, signing autographs and meeting fans from 6 to 7.30 Eastern time. Free parking available for customers in lot nine, which is adjacent to the ball shop student union location. Join us for an exciting evening and the opportunity to meet Blaine Brown and Sage Marjatko one week from today, Thursday, April 16th, presented by Champion. You could maybe just drive over here fast and come back. Oh, yeah, I'm not too far. Not too far, that away. For Dawson Sutton, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks so much for joining us, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_07 1:46:12

Mike Keith talks big orange sports right here every week.

SPEAKER_22 1:46:16

Getting you ready to work. Presented by Uber Eats.

SPEAKER_07 1:46:20

Download the show at utsports.com. Mike Keith. We are the Ball Network.